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I've been a little behind in the past when I post these LE Montblanc inks, but this one should totally be available for you. Grey inks are all the rage right now, what with the new J. Herbin 1670 ink and all. This one isn't loaded with gold flakes, but it is an excellent grey with some really good properties.

I held off on getting a bottle of this 90th Anniversary ink for a couple of months. The early pictures that I saw showed a pretty light grey, and I'm not into that. I want a grey that is distinctly grey, but also dark enough to use day-to-day. It turns out, though, that this is both of those things. And, it's permanent. That's neat. It's also fairly well-behaved on crappy papers and (though I don't mention it) it dries pretty quickly.

I've found that I really like this ink, and I can recommend getting a bottle while you can.

Close-Ups!

Compare!

The Herbin ink below is darker than it should be. It was in that pen for a long time and it was the dregs of the cartridge. The Brahmin ink is a really dark black, and you can see a definite difference between that and the 90 year ink. I think it's a good look.

Copy Paper Test

There's some bleed with this ink, but most of this is kinda just show-through. Fairly good behavior, but it could be a little better.

Chromatography!

Just a little blue in the middle of the greys and a little tan on the strip, as well. Most of the ink didn't move, though, and that's pretty impressive.

Water Test and Review Video

You can find this ink around, but it's an LE, so supplies are a little scarce. I think I paid about $20 or so for my 35ml bottle at a Montblanc store. I've seen it at Bertram's Inkwell and at Anderson Pens, but that's about it.

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And here it is. The last of the Caran d'Ache inks. Divine Pink is much more of a red than it is a pink, I think. Magenta, maybe? Either way, it's a nicely saturated ink that flows really well. No hard starts or stutters with this ink.

This isn't going to be an ink for everyone. It's not going to fit in at the board room and it's not going to be the ink that you sign your mortgage with. It's not an ink for guys who are too "bro" to cop to using an ink called "Divine Pink". It is an ink for people who want their words to really stand out. It works for me in writing notes and for grading papers. It's well-behaved, and it looks good on the page. No behavioral issues except on the cheapest papers.

Close-Ups

There's some shading evident on this Rhodia paper, but I haven't seen any elsewhere. You're not likely to see it on regular papers.

Comparisons

I didn't have any real reds to compare to this "pink" one. Fireball gets more orange as it ages in your pen, and Toucan's Scarlet is a fairly orangy-red as well.

Chromatography

This one is almost monochrome, and I'm not used to seeing that from these inks. There are some hints of a flamingo pink in there, but the combination ends up very close to red. Not much left of the original ink spot on the right end of the strip.

This is the first Toucan ink that I've had the pleasure of using. I first heard of this Aussie brand when I missed a group-buy over on the FPN. They came in these really neat plastic pouches, and I wanted them pretty bad. Anderson Pens is the only dealer of these inks in the US, and they've still got the pouches. I see on Toucan's website that they're not going to be in those bags anymore, and that's too bad. Maybe they were inconvenient for filling pens (I can certainly imagine that they would be), but they were a bit of character that set them apart.

Any-whozzle, this crimson ink is a little too light to be crimson in my book. The ink behaves just fine, but I could stand for it to be a bit more saturated. One of the neat things about these inks is that you can mix them all together. Well, not all of them at the same time, but any of them you'd like. For that reason, a lightly saturated ink is going to be better at mixing with other colors.

It's a well-behaved ink that works well. It's a light red more than it is a crimson, but it's not a pink. Interesting color.

Close-Ups!

Chromatography!

The chromatography for this ink is really interesting. As a mixable ink, I'm not surprised that it's all sort of one hue. That hue is a peachy pink.

Copy Paper Test!

The white-balance for this copy paper shot is a bit off. I didn't bother to correct it since the color isn't the point of these two shots. Not any bleed to speak of, though you can see a couple of spots

Ink Comparisons!

Video Review and Water Drop Test

This low-cost, imported, mixable red is just a little lighter than I think would be ideal, but it's going to have fans out there. If you're looking for a well-behaved light-red ink, then this is the ticket. You can find bags and samples over at Anderson Pens. A 60ml bag goes for $10.

If you like what you see here, then please head on over to Patreon to see how you can help support Inkdependence.

The ink for this review was provided free of charge by Anderson Pens. The review was all mine, however.

Let's check out some red inks! It's about midterm-time for most academics, and that means plenty of grading.

First up, Caran d'Ache's Infra Red. It's a solid red ink with excellent flow and pretty okay behavior. It does tend to bleed a little bit on really cheap paper, but it could be far worse. Honestly, I don't know where students get their paper. It's the worst. This ink bleeds pretty badly there, but so do all sorts of other pens. It actually works pretty well on regular copy paper.

Best of all, it's a bright red ink. Those are pretty hard to find, for some reason. Many of them are a bit washed out, or they're too pink, or they're dark and look like blood. I'm a bigger fan of a true red, and this one fits the bill.

Close-ups!

I really like the rich, even hue of this ink.

Copy Paper Test

See? It works fine on this regular old copy paper. There's some bleed, but not all that much.

Chromatography

Compare!

Water Drop Test and Video Review

This is a really good red, if you're looking for a bright red that isn't a bloody red. The slight bleeding issue can probably be addressed with a fine or x-fine nib, if you're into that sort of thing. You can find bottles and samples over at Anderson Pens. A 50ml bottle goes for $36.

If you like what you see here, then please head on over to Patreon to see how you can help support Inkdependence.

The ink for this review was provided free of charge by Anderson Pens. The review was all mine, however.